LIBRARY_OF CONGRESS. 

Ct/;:p...-: ; : r^n^rigy. I)jr 

Shelf _/R.J 7 

UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



V 



SKY WO N D ERS 



W. W. RAMSAY, D.D. 



0» 



OEG 15 1893* 

no? 



BOSTON 
LEE AND SHEPARD PUBLISHERS 

10 MILK STREET 
1893 



Copyright, 1S93, by Lee and Shepard 



SKY WONDERS 



ROCKWELL & CHURCHILL PRESS, BOSTON 



o5^ 



PREFACE 



I can lay claim to no other origi- 
nality in this little volume than comes 
from a careful grouping of such scien- 
tific statements as have for years ar- 
rested my attention in the scholarly 
volumes of Rev. Dr. E. F. Burr, Bishop 
H. W. Warren, Dr. Samuel Kinns, 
Camille Flammarion, and Prof. Charles 
A. Young. 

Hoping that it may brighten at least 
one hour of many a busy life, I cheer- 
fully yield to a manifold request to give 
permanent form to material which has 
been so approvingly received from the 
platform. 

W. W. RAMSAY 

Boston November 1893 



Ejje 2fofc. Eouts &lfart Banks, IBM. 

WHOSE ENCOURAGING SUGGESTIONS 

HAVE DONE MUCH TO GIVE PERMANENT 

FORM TO THESE PAGES 

THEY ARE GRATEFULLY DEDICATED 




I 

ffROSE and poetry have vied 
with each other in efforts to 
interpret for us the mystic 
writing on the evening sky. 
Prosaic science has thoughtfully aided 
our comprehension by measuring and 
weighing those massive bodies, which 
in appropriate times sweep along sym- 
metrical lines drawn for their circuits, 
while poetry employs every familiar 
symbol, that we may see the beauty 
and feel the majesty of the astounding 
realities which so wonderfully emblazon 
the canopy of night. 

Longfellow is thinking of the flowery 
springtime : 

Silently one by one, in the infinite meadows of 

heaven, 
Blossomed the lovely stars, the forget-me-nots 

of the angels. 

Baily has in mind acres of sparkling 
gems, as he writes of the 

Stars 

Which stand as thick as dew-drops on the 
fields of heaven. 



Campbell sees a single star as it first 
comes to its place, when 

The sentinel-stars set their watch in the sky. 

It is of a beautiful constellation that 
Tennyson so sweetly sings : 

Many a night I saw the Pleiades, 
Rising through the mellow shade, 

Glitter like a swarm of fire-flies, 
Tangled in a silver braid. 

But Derzhavin excels in metaphor 
appropriate in its brilliancy : 

A million torches lighted by Thy hand 
Wander unwearied through the blue abyss. 
What shall we call them? Piles of crystal 

light — 
A glorious company of golden streams -— 
Lamps of celestial ether burning bright — 
Suns lighting systems with their joyous beams? 
But Thou art to these, as the noon to night. 




II 

NE would not expect that 
any deep inspiration could 
come to the soul from the 
dark and silent night. But 
no canvas so appropriate for nature's 
most attractive picture as when 

Night drew her sabl^ curtain down 
And pinned it with a star. 

Nature offers many delightful com- 
pensations for the threatening frown 
which in the evening obscures the last 
ray of declining day. If for the first 
time we beheld the scene, we should 
echo a poet's tribute to the night : 

A starry crown thy raven brow adorns; 
An azure zone thy waist. 

But for the lengthening and deep- 
ening shadows as the evening sun sinks 
to rest, we must remain unconscious 
of the peculiar wonders of the upper 
deep. 

Only for the natural recurrence and 
familiar frequency of the display, we 
must affirm it the most attractive of all 



the splendors of the universe. At. first 
only the most daring of the sentinel 
soldiers is seen to brave the hazard, and 
take a position so far from his fellows ; 
but soon many companies follow, 

Forever singing as they shine, 
The hand that made us is divine. 

The scene they illumine is more than 
enchanting, it is instructive and ele- 
vating, — for man is never so grand in 
mental achievement as when, like 
Kepler in his astronomical studies, he 
is " thinking the thoughts of God." 
These crystallized thoughts are sunken 
in infinite depths, where, kindled to an 
intense blaze, they disclose the pres- 
ence of Him who calls them all by 
name, and leads them as a shepherd 
does his flock. Beautiful as is this 
blossoming field, its glory is greatly 
enhanced when the " pale empress of 
the night " bends her slender crescent 
on the western sky. And especially if, 
as sometimes occurs, there be seen 
striding across this dusky expanse the 
ominous comet, with its fragile train 
curved like an angel's cimeter on the 
overarching vault. 




Ill 

1HESE varied objects have 
much in common, which 
entitles them to a common 
consideration. Their in- 
teresting faces are radiant with the 
same refulgent light. The investiga- 
tion of light carries us back to the first 
creative day, when God said, " Light 
be," and light was. It flashes along the 
brow of the day, and the birds sing their 
matin songs. It shoots its splendid 
shafts into the homes of sleepers, and 
men arise to think and toil. It rests 
its crystal columns in valley depths, 
and spreads its sheen over mountain 
crests, and men call it day. It tints 
the flower, and causes the grass to 
grow. No wonder Milton in imaging 
the creative process, when, before the 
sun, light was " sphered in a radiant 
cloud," exclaimed with such rapturous 
greeting, 

Hail, holy light, offspring of heaven, first-born. 

Not only is the genial light so very 
beautiful, but it is full of insoluble 



mystery. Whence is it? What is it? 
How does it move ? If Mercury with 
winged sandals was the fleet mes- 
senger of the gods, may we not appro- 
priately regard the light as a worthy 
message-bearer to the outposts of 
widest spaces? Light is not the sim- 
ple element we might imagine. The 
great Newton ascertained that fact, 
and was commendably curious to dis- 
cover the number and nature of the 
primary colors. Patient research and 
intelligent experiment brought their 
reward, and the great fact was known 
if the strange mystery was not full) 
solved. Newton, however, was prob- 
ably mistaken in regard to the nature 
of light. He thought that atomic par- 
ticles were given off by the shining 
body, and these passing through space 
left its image on the eye of the be- 
holder. This was the corpuscular the- 
ory. It, however, was abandoned by 
DesCartes and his disciples in favor of 
the undulatory theory, which teaches 
that certain vibrations have been im- 
parted to the interstellar ether, and 
these waves bear an image to the sen- 
sitive eye. It is truly marvellous that 
the author of Genesis, so many ages 



before science had been formulated, 
wrote his history on the supposition 
of the undulatory theory, which is now 
generally held as true. 

Some well demonstrated assertions 
are of startling significance. Prof. Tyn- 
dall in his Light and Electricity informs 
us that of the red ray four hundred and 
seventy-four trillion four hundred and 
thirty-nine billion six hundred and 
eighty million of waves enter the eye in 
a second of time, and of the violet ray 
six hundred and ninety-nine trillion ac- 
complish the same feat. Let us exam- 
ine the significance of this unchallenged 
statement. In a year there are thirty- 
one million five hundred and fifty-seven 
thousand six hundred seconds. By 
counting three every second, a person 
could count ninety-four million six hun- 
dred and seventy-two thousand eight 
hundred in a year. Then to count the 
number of violet waves that enter the 
eye each second would require seven 
million three hundred and eighty-three 
thousand three hundred and thirty years. 
We do not challenge the fact, but 
make the computation to show how 
much it involves. It does, however, 
occur to us, that one, who in the name 



of the high priest of science could 
suggest anything so marvellous, ought 
not to have any difficulty in swallowing, 
at one effort, both Jonah and the 
whale. 

We are not so much surprised at the 
rapid velocity of light, as that any one 
ever could have ascertained what it 
was. Nothing appears to have evaded 
the notice of those who observe for us 
the wonders of the sky. Galileo with 
his first telescope discovered four of 
Jupiter's moons, and was greatly inter- 
ested to notice their revolutions around 
their planet. There are times when the 
earth is about one hundred and eighty 
five million of miles nearer Jupiter than 
at other times. So by comparing the 
time of a moon's emerging from be- 
hind the planet when the earth was 
nearest, and the time of the emergence 
of the same moon when the earth was 
farthest away, he of course had the 
number of minutes it would require 
the light to travel the intervening dis- 
tance. Other methods of greater 
accuracy have confirmed the former 
results to be in the main correct. Now 
it is known that this messenger flashes 
through space at the rate of one hun- 



dred and eighty-six thousand three hun- 
dred and thirty miles a second. 

There is strongest evidence that our 
earth and moon once shone by their 
own light. At such a time the earth 
would cast no shadow, and would 
endure no mention of a night. It 
would then be as hot at the poles as 
at the equator, and would know no 
change of seasons. Probably it was 
only when as a youthful prodigal it had 
squandered its resources, that it * was 
willing to recognize the authority of 
the sun in ruling the day, and marking 
off the bands for the seasons. It was 
for this reason, probably, that an intro- 
duction of the sun to our earth was so 
long delayed. 




IV 

vUT it is time we paid some 
attention to the wonders of 
our neighbors which float 
with us in the unbroken 
silence of illimitable space. It is 
rather natural to take a look at the 
nearest of these, since it is the one 
with which we are on very intimate 
relations. I refer, of course, to our 
moon, styled by Homer, "the silver- 
footed goddess." She attends us so 
faithfully, and compensates so largely 
for the absence of the king of day, 
that we are pleased to honor her 
majesty, and commend her to the ac- 
quaintance of her subjects. I fear 
some writers have taken liberties with 
the moon's reputation, since by Rabe- 
lais it is affirmed to have been made of 
green cheese. Nor was Scott quite at 
liberty to tell : 

I saw the new moon late yestere'en 
Wi' the auld moon in her arms. 

Though, to speak the truth, this is a 
phenomenon to be observed every new 



moon. The light from the crescent 
shines on the earth, and is reflected 
back on the entire orb with force 
enough to show the outline of the dark 
portion, which thus appears to be in 
the arms of the new moon. Dekker, 
too, abused his privilege by saying he 
saw a man in the moon. In this he 
must have been mistaken, since there 
is neither air nor water on this satel- 
lite, which, of course, would make it 
impossible for human beings to live 
there. 

Then, there was poor Burns with his 
facetious apology : 

The village ale had made me canty ; 
I nae was fou', but just had plenty ; 
The rising moon began to glower 
The distant Cumnock hills out-owre ; 
To count her horns wi' all my power 

I set mysel' ; 
But whether she had three or four 

I couldna tell. 

ft certainly ought not to be con- 
sidered to the moon's prejudice that 
Burns was in temporary eclipse. 

The moon's mean distance is nearly 
two hundred and thirty-nine thousand 
miles, which would be quite a bicycle 
trip, but is as nothing compared with 



the distances of most of the heavenly 
bodies. Opportunity has thus been 
afforded for close observation, which 
has been industriously employed, until 
the moon is almost as familiar to us as 
is the planet on which we live. On 
account of its numerous and lofty 
mountains, and its deep and deeply 
shaded valleys, it has amply repaid all 
the attention it has attracted. Mt. 
Blanc is our standard of supremacy, 
and we heartily endorse Byron's dis- 
criminating tribute : 

Mt. Blanc is the monarch of mountains, 

They crowned him long ago, 
On a throne of rocks, in a robe of cloud, 

With a diadem of snow. 
About his waist were forests braced, 

And the javelin in his hand. 
But ere it fall, that thundering ball, 

Must pause for thy command. 

But on the moon are two-score 
mountains higher than Mt. Blanc. 
Some of them are higher than the 
Himalayas, while monster craters forty, 
fifty, and one exceeding a hundred 
miles across, indicate the terrible com- 
motions that stirred its depths and 
scarred its surface in the long ago. 
We imagine some one has piqued the 



moon on its trifling proportions, for it 
has undertaken to get even by making 
trouble for the astronomers. The orbit 
is pulled and twisted, banged and 
battered, until about thirty irregulari- 
ties must be regarded in mathematical 
calculations. The constancy of the 
moon is greatly to be commended. 
Those who dislike two-faced people 
will take no offence at this reliable 
satellite, for it has never turned but one 
face toward us. The period of its 
revolution on its axis is the same as 
the time of its revolution about the 
earth, which forbids our hoping ever 
to see the other side of the moon. 
One other influence of our nearest 
neighbor must not be forgotten : 

The ocean, at the bidding of the moon, 
Forever changes with the restless tide. 

A great belt of water, made up of 
many waves, heaved high, and there 
held as though with some underlying 
support, is borne across the ocean, 
and is hurled in crested breakers on 
distant shores, as though in reckless 
sport the moon would show her power 
over the yielding wave. 

As we reflect on what our moon is 



to the earth, we ascertain with pleas- 
ure that all the planets except the 
inner two are attended by these in- 
teresting bodies, which, by reflecting 
back upon us through the night the 
light of the invisible sun, do much to 
render the darkness enjoyable as well 
as endurable. Mars has two such 
faithful attendants ; Jupiter five, the 
last of which was discovered only a 
few months ago ; Saturn eight ; Ura- 
nus four; and Neptune one. If it 
be true as affirmed in mythology that 
Saturn has devoured some of his own 
children, we may wonder that eight 
still remain. One of these, Titan, is 
the largest moon in the solar system, 
being near four thousand miles in 
diameter, while ours is but two thou- 
sand one hundred and sixty-three 
miles. Even that, however, is suffi- 
cient to excite the jealousy of the quar- 
tette of Uranus, for their diameters 
range from about two hundred to five 
hundred miles. We are hardly recon- 
ciled to the fact that beautiful Venus 
should be without a satellite. So con- 
sidered Frederick the Great, who 
thought it had one, and proposed nam- 
ing it for his distinguished friend 



Alembert, who, however, delicately de- 
clined the honor, pleading that he was 
not great enough to become the satel- 
lite of Venus in the heavens, nor well 
enough to be so on earth, from which 
we infer he was a bachelor ; and then 
he added : " I know too well how 
small a place I occupy in this lower 
world to covet one in the sky." Pos- 
sibly he may have heard of the recipe 
for cooking a rabbit, which began with 
the suggestion, " first catch him." 




V 

1HERE are many influential 
bodies desirous of our ac- 
quaintance, but we cannot 
for that reason afford to 
keep our plainly apparelled neighbors 
waiting for recognition. So we must 
have a word to say about the planets. 
These wanderers, as the general 
name implies, are not lawless vagrants, 
but may be found at any time just where 
regular habits in the past would war- 
rant our looking for them. But being 
so much nearer us than the fixed stars, 
they are observed to change their rel- 
ative positions, and for this reason are 
called by the name " wanderer." There 
are eight of these planets, which for 
variety in size, diversity of appearance, 
and peculiarities of condition are not 
surpassed, if, indeed, they are equalled 
by any stars in the dome of night. 
The planets with their attending moons 
form a large portion of the solar sys- 
tem. Our sun is at the centre of this 
system, from which place he sends his 
attractive power to all the planets, and 



these at the same time receive from 
him their light and heat. They, like 
their moons, are dark bodies, and 
shine by borrowed light. These planets 
are not exactly in the same plane, 
nor are they ever in range along 
any direct line from the sun. We. 
however, may, for convenience of illus- 
tration, imagine this, inasmuch as they 
never change their order of succession 
from the sun. Starting from this ma- 
jestic centre we move out toward the 
most distant member of our system, 
but scarcely know where to make the 
first stop. Some astronomers have 
thought there were unmistakable indi- 
cations of a small planet about eleven 
millions of miles from the sun; but 
better proof is wanted before we con- 
sent to halt there in our journey. Its 
existence, however, is predicated on 
an authority no less than the late Pro- 
fessor Watson, of the University of 
Michigan. Continuing our journey, 
we first come to Mercury at the mean 
distance of about thirty-six millions 
of miles from the sun. This is the 
smallest of the planets proper, being 
less than three thousand miles in dia- 
meter ; but when favorably situated, it 



receives about seven times the amount 
of light that comes to the earth ; so, 
though relatively small, it does con- 
siderable shining. Next we come to 
the orbit of Venus at a distance from 
the sun of about sixty-seven millions 
of miles. This planet is but little less 
than the earth's size ; and when near- 
est us flames up with bewitching 
beauty. In classic times temples were 
dedicated to the goddess of love that 
was supposed to preside over the 
motions and phases of this neighborly 
orb. Then at the mean distance of 
about ninety-two and a half millions of 
miles we find our earth. Double this, 
and you have the diameter of its orbit 
about the sun. This number, one hun- 
dred and eighty- five millions of miles, 
will make for us a convenient " yard- 
stick" when we need to make some 
measurements in the sky. Hoping 
that earth will be reconciled to our 
temporary departure, we move straight 
along to a mean distance from the sun, 
of one hundred and forty-one millions 
of miles, which brings us to Mars. In 
August of 1892 we were at our nearest 
possible approach to this planet, and 
notwithstanding his being but little more 



than half earth's diameter, he made a 
most brilliant appearance, and in spite 
of the reputation gained from his 
flushed countenance, as being under 
direction of the god of war, we found 
him very peaceable, though but thirty- 
five millions of miles away. Now we 
pass over a wide interval before we 
come to Jupiter, very appropriately 
named for the king of the gods. Of 
course mythology could do nothing 
else, when it is known to be about 
thirteen hundred times as large as the 
earth. Though this kingly orb is 
wheeling through space at a distance 
of four hundred and eighty-three mil- 
lions of miles from the sun, he receives 
light enough to show one of the 
grandest objects of the heavenly dis- 
play. Dr. Young, of Princeton, to 
whose latest work we have submitted 
our figures for verification, says Jupiter 
receives but one twenty-seventh as 
much light and heat as come from the 
sun to our earth, but as he is as large as 
all the other planets combined, he still 
holds his unchallenged place of suprem- 
acy. If, however, the theory be true that 
he yet retains much of the heat which 
belonged to his more youthful years, 



he still has some light of his own, 
which greatly helps his shining. 

It may be that the interesting belts 
about Jupiter are the remnants of such 
dense clouds as during the carbon- 
iferous age of the earth shut out the 
sun's rays, and thus prevented his in- 
troduction to our world until the fourth 
period of Genesis. 

That he is cooling down so slowly is 
attributable to his great size, for all 
the bodies of our system that have not 
already become cold and dark are 
slowly changing into that condition. 
In this regard the earth is in a medium 
state between the moon and Jupiter. 
The moon's temperature is supposed 
to be at least two hundred degrees be- 
low zero, while we are happy to share 
a more endurable climate ; and yet, 
causes are steadily operating which, 
after many ages, must bring us to the 
present condition of that old, burnt- 
out cinder. But as the race of men 
will certainly have become extinct be- 
fore that distant day, it need cast no 
unwelcome shadow, nor send any ap- 
prehensive chill to those who now con- 
sider the probability. 




VI 

jASSING along toward outer 
space we come to the most 
wonderful planet of the 
solar system, Saturn. Its 
mean distance from the sun is about 
eight hundred and eighty-six millions of 
miles. Its volume is more than seven 
hundred times that of earth, so that 
even at that vast distance it has not 
been able to screen its existence under 
the mantle of night. The most beau- 
tiful feature of this planet is strangely 
unique, as there is nothing in all the 
sky which resembles its wonderful 
rings. There are three of these, one 
enclosing another, and all about the 
planet, from which, as well as from 
each other, they remain at the same 
distance. Their united breadth is, ac- 
cording to Sir John Herschel, about 
thirty-seven thousand miles, their 
thickness is about one hundred miles, 
and the diameter of the outer ring 
one hundred and sixty-eight thousand 
miles. The inner ring is about nine 
thousand miles from Saturn. When we 



remember that probably these rings are 
neither solid nor liquid, " but mere 
swarms of separate particles, each pur- 
suing its own independent orbit about 
the planet," we may be astonished 
that they keep their places, though 
travelling with Saturn about the sun 
at the rate of five hundred and four- 
teen thousand miles a day. I won- 
der if these rings are destined to be 
changed into moons, or other satel- 
lites ! 

The next planet in order is Uranus, 
at a distance of eighteen hundred mil- 
lions of miles from the sun. Notwith- 
standing it is more than sixty times the 
earth's bulk, it appears to the eye as a 
star of the sixth magnitude. Uranus, 
however, was unable to keep a secret. 
He doubtless supposed himself too far 
away from everywhere to be observed 
by any person. But not so. Thought- 
ful men noticed that in a certain part 
of his orbit, he showed a strong ten- 
dency to slip away into the darkness 
beyond, and yet the old sun would call 
him back to his place, and thus compel 
his reluctant obedience. Two wise 
men, guided possibly by their knowl- 
edge of human nature, suspicioned the 



existence of another planet still farther 
away, with which they imagined that 
Uranus was hobnobbing. On this 
narrow supposition, either being un- 
known to the other, they proceeded 
with their curious calculations, and 
though Adams first completed his work, 
LeVerrier soon ■ followed, and wrote to 
Galle where to point his large tele- 
scope, and, strange to say, his intelligent 
expectations were fully realized ; for in 
that abyss, two thousand eight hundred 
millions of miles away, into which 
startling depth it requires the sun's 
light four hours and ten minutes to 
pierce, there was seen for the first time 
a vast world, one hundred and five 
times as large as our earth, silently 
sailing through his wide revolution of 
one hundred and sixty-four years. 
And this farthest planet in the solar 
system is named Neptune. 

There is a curious proportion which, 
with the exception of Jupiter, all the 
planets observe in their distances from 
the sun. The space between Mars and 
Jupiter is nearly double what an observ- 
ance of this law would have made it. 

It was conjectured that an undis- 
covered planet was wandering in this 



space. Diligent search begun nearly 
one hundred years ago failed to find 
such a body ; but, strange to say, it has 
been rewarded by the discovery of one 
after another, until more than three 
hundred little worlds have swelled the 
curious list. The largest of these is 
named Vesta. Its diameter is about 
three hundred and twenty miles. With 
two exceptions, none of the others 
exceed one hundred miles in diameter, 
while many are probably but little 
more than ten miles from side to side. 
Speculation has been busy as to the 
origin of these planetoids or asteroids, 
as they are called. Some have thought 
they were the material which for want 
of the necessary cohesion failed to 
unite in one great body, and so ad- 
justed itself in these numerous small 
orbs, which we find regularly travel- 
ling about the sun in a decidedly in- 
teresting and orderly way. Some wise 
men imagine that if Jupiter had 
attended to his own business without 
exercising his autocratic interference, 
this disunion never would have oc- 
curred ; but as these little worlds add so 
richly to the wonders of the sky, we are 
more than reconciled, we are contented. 




VII 

§|T the centre of this vast sys- 
tem of whirling planets with 
their encircling rings and 
attending moons is our great 
sun. He is the most splendid object 
in the heavens, and whether we regard 
his immense size, his terrific tempests, 
or his brilliant countenance, we are 
compelled to award to the sun imperial 
honors. He claims to be eight hundred 
and sixty-six thousand miles in diameter 
and so would equal one and one-quarter 
millions of our earth. He is seven 
hundred and fifty times as large as all 
the rest of the solar system put to- 
gether. Bishop Warren, in Recrea- 
tions in Astronomy, assists our .com- 
prehension by asserting that if a hole 
were drilled down through the sun, 
from its north pole to its south, large 
enough to receive the earth, and if it 
were dropped to the bottom of this 
cavity, and others placed on top of 
this and each other, as a string of 
beads hanging perpendicularly, that 
one hundred and nine and one-half 



earths could thus be placed through 
the diameter of the sun. Some one 
has suggested that we imagine the in- 
terior of the sun scooped out as we 
might take out the insides of a pump- 
kin, leaving only the rind. Now, at 
the centre of this shell of the sun, 
place the earth with its moon as now 
at the distance of two hundred and 
thirty-nine thousand miles, and it would 
make its revolution without coming 
within one hundred and ninety thou- 
sand miles of this vast shell. Well, 
this old emperor needs to be wonder- 
fully large to control such a vast realm 
as is under his rule ! 

On the sun's surface are great spots 
into which we might tumble our world, 
yes, or even the largest of the planets. 
Maybe these spots or dark places are 
great holes in the photosphere or gas- 
eous envelope by which the solid part 
of the sun appears to be surrounded. 
There are terrible commotions in this 
photosphere, when, according to Dr. 
Burr, gaseous waves rush furiously to- 
gether, and dash the hydrogen spray 
three hundred thousand miles into 
space. 




VIII 

§P|N interesting inquiry is sug- 
gested here, as to how the 
sun renews its energy and 
replenishes its fires. One 
would imagine that even the heat our 
earth receives from the sun might 
soon exhaust the supply, and how 
much is our apprehension increased 
to learn that the earth receives but 
one part in two thousand million parts 
of what he furnishes to the planets, 
moons, asteroids, and empty spaces 
through which he is circling. It is 
thought that either or both of two 
means may be employed in replenish- 
ing this supply. One is by a constant 
and regular contraction of his volume. 
Helmholz considered that the shrink- 
ing of the sun's diameter by one ten- 
thousandth part would generate heat 
enough to compensate for the regular 
emission for two thousand years ; and 
Professor Young suggests that a con- 
traction of his diameter two hundred 
and fifty feet annually, would meet all 
demands now being made on our be- 



neficent sun. The second method for 
keeping up the supply is by the falling 
of meteorites into the sun. Sir William 
Thomson calculated that if a body as 
large as Jupiter were to be attracted to 
the sun's surface, the impact would 
supply heat enough to last thirty-two 
thousand years. Surely between these 
two possible methods we are likely to 
be supplied as long as the most of us 
shall desire such conditions. 

From Helmholz's theory above 
mentioned, it has been computed that 
the sun has been affording a constant 
supply of light and heat during at least 
eighteen millions of years, and it is 
also scientifically maintained that it 
cannot sustain life on our planet more 
than ten millions of years longer. 
These curious statements confirm the 
revelation that the present order of the 
heavenly bodies must sooner or later 
come to an end. • 




IX 

UK. sun is only one of many 
millions of suns that come 
into the telescopic field. 
A careless observer would 
affirm that he beheld countless num- 
bers of stars with the unaided eye, but 
it is certain that only about six thousand 
or seven thousand can be so observed 
in both the northern and southern 
hemispheres. 

Owing to their different distances 
from us, the stars appear to shine with 
varied degrees of brightness. It is this 
fact that determines their magnitudes. 
The stars are divided into sixteen 
magnitudes, not determined, however, 
by their absolute size, but by their 
appearance to the unaided eye. Six 
of the largest of these divisions are 
visible without the telescope, while the 
other ten can only be seen by the aid 
of that instrument. Authors differ 
slightly in their estimates of the num- 
bers in each. Approximately, of the 
first magnitude there are twenty; of 
the second, sixty-five ; of the third, 



two hundred ; of the fourth, four 
hundred; of the fifth, one thousand 
one hundred ; and of the sixth, three 
thousand two hundred stars. Then 
the telescope, whose power brings the 
sun within two hundred thousand miles 
of the earth, finds millions upon mil- 
lions of stars to be divided between 
the other ten magnitudes. 

Charts of the heavens were made in 
very ancient times. It is said that of 
the sixty-seven constellations now 
found on celestial globes, forty-eight 
were familiar to Ptolemy, who was 
born about 70 A.D. Even Job, more 
than three thousand years ago, speaks 
of Orion, the Pleiades, with other 
familiar stars. The names of clusters 
of stars were arbitrarily given, although 
in some instances there is a fancied 
resemblance between the cluster and 
the object for which it was named. 
Some one says, the sky is nothing 
more than a menagerie. Though 
while many were named for beasts and 
birds, others were called for men, and 
harps, and ships. 

Classic story has related some enter- 
taining fables concerning many of the 
constellations. Ovid says the ancients 



counted seven stars in the Pleiades, but 
as one of them hid itself because of 
grief at the fall of Troy, we now see 
but six. Virgil says that jealousy 
caused Madame Juno to obtain from 
Thetis an order that Callisto and 
Bootes should never bathe in the 
ocean. Whether this story be true or 
false, certain it is the constellations 
mentioned always remain above the 
horizon, and so avoid the water as 
though afflicted with hydrophobia. 

About the north pole are distributed 
several groups which, according to 
mythology, were active participants 
in an exciting drama. Cepheus to 
appease the anger of Neptune chained 
his daughter Andromeda, in sacrifice, 
to a rock on the Syrian coast. Young 
Perseus heard of it, leaped on Pegasus, 
and with Medusa's head in his hand, 
reached the victim just as she was 
about being attacked by the sea mon- 
ster. The rescue was easy and com- 
plete. In commemoration of this 
event all the participants were assigned 
conspicuous places in the heavens. 

All the stars we see in the sky 
belong to some constellation. As we 
shall see, they are moving with incred- 



ible speed, and yet to distinguish 
them from the planets they are called 
the fixed stars. When we become 
well acquainted with these great, bright 
orbs, we shall know, that fact is 
wonderfully stranger than fiction. 

It is difficult to imagine them other 
than they seem, as from accustomed 
places they look down upon us every 
clear night. The beholder might be 
excused for thinking that those which 
seem near each other were in the 
same neighborhood. As Alcor nearly 
touches Mizar in the handle of the 
Dipper, they twinkle their pleasure at 
the deception, since they are really 
five thousand times one hundred and 
eighty-five million miles apart. It is 
interesting too, to observe how they 
are compelled to answer questions. 
Notwithstanding our old sun flares up 
at too great familiarity, astronomers 
have discovered more than twenty-five 
of earth's chemical elements in his 
structure. It will avail nothing for 
those monster orbs to rush into the 
dark like streaks of fire, for wise men 
are on their tracks, and will soon know 
them as intimately as they now under- 
stand the little moon, that tells so 
modestly the history of her early life. 




X 

j^lLL the stars we have men- 
tioned, and all we ever saw, 
belong to a vast, dense 
ocean of suns, whose boun- 
dary extends so far that they lose their 
individuality in a mass of commingled 
light. It resembles a belt of fleecy 
cloud, which, extending below the hori- 
zon, and then round the earth, forms 
a girdle about the heavens. The an- 
cients observed this great wonder and 
called it the path to the dwelling of the 
gods. Its dimensions are almost fabu- 
lous. Its general shape is that of a 
monster cheese. Its thickness is eight 
million times one hundred and eighty- 
five million miles. You remember we 
remarked that we should have use for 
that " yard-stick." But what of the 
diameter of this nebula? It is one 
hundred and seventy million times 
one hundred and eighty-five millions 
of miles. Let him fathom this who 
can ! Light travels one hundred and 
eighty-six thousand miles a second. 
It requires eight minutes and twelve 



seconds to come from the sun to us, 
and four hours ten minutes to go from 
the sun to Neptune. Now, how long 
would it require to pass from side to 
side of this vast nebula? Possibly 
somewhere from twenty thousand to 
thirty thousand years. Well may we 
be amazed and wearied by our effort 
to comprehend this statement. We 
regard our sun as quite remote, and 
yet its light reaches us in little more 
than eight minutes. Now, how far 
away, how sunken in the depths of 
space, are the sentinels on the extremi- 
ties of our nebula, when if one should 
flash a signal to the other, twenty 
thousand years or more would be re- 
quired ! But we must remember there 
are about eighteen millions of stars in 
the milky way. Our nearest neighbor 
among them is more than thirteen 
millions of millions miles away. It is 
so remote that if we should represent 
the distance of Neptune by ten inches, 
our nearest star neighbor would be 
one mile away. We need not marvel 
that three years and eight months are 
required for the transit of its flash 
through this tenantless space. Alpha 



Centanri is the name of this star, 
which is visible from the southern 
hemisphere only. If we should under- 
take to furnish room for all these eigh- 
teen millions of stars on a scale as 
liberal as this, it would truly demand 
magnificent distances. 

Is our planning burdened to find 
room in the heavens for this one 
nebula, then how must we despair of 
accommodating all that are floating 
across the sky ! Dr. Burr says they 
are found in great variety of beautiful 
forms. Some are round, others oval, 
or lens-shaped, or ring-shaped. One 
resembles a crab, another a fan, 
another an hour-glass, another a dumb- 
bell, another a whirlpool, and so on, 
exhausting almost every ideal form. 
Analogy would infer from the com- 
position of the milky way that all 
nebulae consist of stars in immense 
numbers and at tremendous distances. 
But this is questioned of many of those 
fleecy bodies, though some of them 
throw a spectrum on the screen which 
always indicates a solid body as its 
source. In which case, the nebulae 
would certainly consist of individual 



stars. As the wisest men can only 
speculate concerning the constitution 
of these curious masses, we leave them 
to the more definite revelations of the 
future. 

Is it not probable that these numer- 
ous and inconceivably immense bodies 
are an extension of the harmonies of 
subordinate dependence and sympa- 
thetic motion, to the widest fields of 
space ? Does not analogy need these 
ultimate masses to complete the ideal 
universe toward which we have been 
moving through the gradations of 
satellites, planets, suns, groups, and 
clusters? Do we imagine the orderly 
system to suddenly stop while on those 
upper fields thousands of scattered 
nebulae roam at will like unshepherded 
sheep ? Rather may we not infer that 
our nebula is but one of a vast system 
of its kind, and that all are in orderly 
procession along great circular orbits, 
about some inconceivably distant cen- 
tre, having for its perimeter outposts 
so far away that only an angel wing 
can span it without weariness, and 
only an angel eye can pierce it with- 
out terror ! 




XT 

|HE magnitude of our stellar 
system is apparent in a 
glance at Sirius, the bright- 
est star in the firmament, 
whose light is twenty years in reaching 
us. Arcturus, so difficult to guide, 
sends his light to the earth in twenty- 
five years. The North star, which, as 
Shakespeare says, 

Of whose true fix'd and resting quality 
There is no fellow in the firmament, 

dispatched forty-six years ago the 
light which arrived here last night. 
Then there are the beautiful Pleiades. 
Into what measureless depths are they 
sunken, from which their light, rush- 
ing on at the speed of one hundred 
and eighty-six thousand miles a second, 
requires seven hundred years in find- 
ing us ! The light which came to us 
last night from that pleasant constella- 
tion began its flight before America 
was discovered. Yes, and back of 
that, even before King John signed, at 
Runnymede, England's famous Magna 



Charta. Think of all that has occurred 
since then ! Dynasties have risen and 
fallen ; empires have prospered and 
crumbled, and still the tireless light 
was approaching. It was not until 
revolutionary changes brought by seven 
centuries had occurred, that the time 
for the bewildering journey had been 
completed, and then, as we looked, 
we beheld, near the zenith, the bright 
court from which we joyfully received 
this gayly caparisoned messenger. This 
inconceivable space is sprinkled with 
constant sentinels. Professor Ball, Royal 
astronomer at Dublin, says : " We 
may fairly take the numbers of stars 
in the sky, of the entire universe that 
we see, at one hundred millions." But 
who can imagine the scene if the 
famous Lick telescope were placed on 
the most distant of these millions? 
We should probably be on the verge 
of another one hundred millions now 
unseen — for here we observe but the 
beginning of the Lord's ways. 

It is because of this unimaginable 
distance that the light of the six thou- 
sand multiple stars reaches us as the 
light of single orbs. Some of these 
are double, others triple, or quadruple. 



That is, certain stars in the same 
relative neighborhood revolve about 
each other, or about a point in space 
as their centre of motion. Take the 
North star as an instance. It is a 
double star; and though it requires 
a good telescope to distinguish between 
the two, they are one hundred and five 
times one hundred and eighty-five 
millions of miles apart. 

One would imagine that relationship 
at that distance had run completely 
out. But they manifest a decided at- 
traction, and neither makes any mo- 
tion without paying due consideration 
to the claims of the other. Often one 
star of such group is larger than the 
other, or others, in which case the larger 
star will take its place in the relative 
orbit of the smaller, which must now 
do some very rapid sailing to atone for 
its inferior size. If each is attended 
by worlds which are in their turn at- 
tended by moons, how numerous and 
complicated the circles and ellipses 
they would describe on the sky. How 
wonderful that the Creator should have 
had clearly in mind all these motions 
before a single orb had been launched 
on the upper deep ! 



K $0k XH 

J^OMETS are to civilized peo- 
y$wl pie welcome visitors; but it 
•s^^ was not always so. It is not 
many years since they were 
thought to presage famine, pestilence, 
or war, and threw nations into fearful 
terror and consternation. Caesar's wife 
was greatly distressed, and would keep 
him away from the conspiring senate 
by telling him that a comet had been 
seen in the sky, and that, 

When beggars die there are no comets seen. 
The heavens themselves blaze forth the death 
of princes. 

But since we learned that popes 
have such power over these monsters, 
we need fear no peril. You know it 
was in 1456 that Calixtus III. issued 
a bull against Halley's comet, which 
he imagined to be interfering in his 
fight against the Turks, and, like most 
people before Luther's day, it was 
obedient to his holiness, and — when 
ready, took its departure. These 
bodies, very pretentious in their style, 



swing through wide spaces, and sup- 
port a brilliant train in their vast cir- 
cuits. Very coquettish they are, for 
they sweep down near the sun, then 
away they go, taking their own time 
for returning. They maintain a pro- 
voking silence about themselves, 
though they have been compelled to 
answer certain questions in spite of 
their dashing efforts to get away. They 
are certainly very interesting bodies. 
They threaten often to brush us off 
our planet, and in 1861 we are said 
to have passed through the train of 
a comet ; but the fact was unobserved 
by all save a few who noticed a slight 
electrical disturbance. It is probable 
that comets are of different densities, 
as they manifest varied appearances. 
Their constituent elements have never 
been accurately or definitely deter- 
mined, though every additional oppor- 
tunity for observation adds to our 
knowledge concerning these strange 
visitors. They have an extremely low 
density, as is shown by the fact that 
" small stars can be seen through the 
head of a comet one hundred thousand 
miles in diameter." Professor Young 
says a comet is probably composed of 



small meteoric stones, widely separated 
as pin-heads many feet apart, carrying 
with them a certain quantity of envel- 
oping gas. But if so, these meteorites 
must be very small and widely sepa- 
rated, or they would not allow the eye 
to pierce them through and through. 

Sir John Hexschel saw stars of the 
sixteenth magnitude through Biela's 
comet, though the nucleus and sur- 
rounding coma were forty thousand 
miles in diameter. Many persons in 
1858 observed Arcturus through the 
tail of Donati's comet, where it was 
fifty-four thousand miles in thickness. 
The train of the comet, however, is 
not a permanent part of the body, but 
consists of a stream of vaporous par- 
ticles attending the comet in a direc- 
tion opposite to the sun. Professor 
Pierce thinks there must be five thou- 
sand million comets within the limits 
of our system, of which more than five 
hundred have been seen with the 
naked eye. Some of these are quite 
well known. Their diameters have 
been calculated, their trains measured, 
while the periods of their vast revolu- 
tions have been quite accurately deter- 
mined. Some of the most noted in 



our system, taken in regular order, are : 
Encke's, Biela's, Halley's, the comets 
of 1811 and 1680. Nor would we 
neglect to mention those known as 
1844 and 1858. Encke's comet is 
claimed to have demonstrated that 
there, is an interstellar ether. Halley's 
shows that it is possible to predict with 
certainty the revolution, which occupies 
about seventy-six years ; while Biela's 
comet goes far toward identifying 
cometary matter with meteoric show- 
ers. Halley's has been traced back 
through Chinese history to the year 12 
B.C. I presume the most beautiful 
comet my readers ever saw was Do- 
nati's, of 1858. Its train reached 
through forty degrees, while its head 
was two hundred and fifty thousand 
miles in diameter. It requires two 
thousand years for a single revolution. 
If astronomers can have three well- 
defined positions of a heavenly body, 
it enables them to give with surprising 
accuracy the nature, extent, and time 
of its revolution; or if its orbit be 
parabolic, they can encourage us to 
cast a lingering gaze, since the plumed 
knight will never return. 




XIII 

|E are startled by the awful 
sweep of these thousand- 
year revolutions, but we 
have entire respect for the 
statement. The comet of 1811 is a 
monster in size. Its head is one million 
two hundred thousand miles in diam- 
eter, while its tail reaches one hundred 
and thirty millions of miles into space. 
That is, it would reach from the earth 
to the sun and entirely around his 
majesty, with a flaming bow-knot. It 
visited the sun, when, according to Dr. 
Burr, our world was enveloped in the 
waters of the deluge, and then it dis- 
appeared, to be away in its ample revo- 
lution, for about four thousand years, 
which it completed in 181 1, to again 
leave us for those wide, dark spaces of 
its wandering. The wonderful comet 
of 1680 has a mean distance from the 
sun of forty-four thousand millions of 
miles. Its train was a thing of beauty, 
stretching through seventy degrees of 
the sky. So, before the head of the 
comet had appeared above the horizon. 



this flaming train had reached far be- 
yond the zenith. What if we could 
read the journal of this old traveller ! 
I think of it rushing down from its 
flight of nine thousand years, to enjoy 
the twelve thousand degree heat of our 
great " natural furnace," and then, like 
some mighty conqueror, adjusting his 
great plume, beginning another fearful 
flight into that far-away ; but, O, who 
can tell how far! Since 1680 it has 
been dashing on at tremendous speed, 
and still it goes. It will lean forward 
in its outward flight for more than four 
thousand years yet; still on and on, 
until in those dark and cold spaces it 
gently swings about the aphelion of its 
orbit, and, like a proud athlete, rushes 
down the unlit avenues to again re- 
plenish its wasted brightness and de- 
pleted energy at the central-fires of the 
sun. Did we fail to follow the comet 
for nine thousand years, then how 
must we be lost in an effort to trace 
the silent wandering of the comet of 
1844? Its train was two hundred mil- 
lions of miles long. Double the dis- 
tance from here to the sun. How 
beautiful to bend that splendid thing 
of light on the distant sky, and then 



begin his revolution, not of four thou- 
sand, nor nine thousand, but of one 
hundred thousand years ! How strange 
that in that awful period he should all 
the while continue his allegiance to 
our little sun, and seek from mys- 
terious distances communion with his 
attending worlds ! 

There is greater variety among com- 
ets than any other of the heavenly 
bodies. Some have several trains, 
others have none. The same comet 
at one appearance has one, while at 
the next it will have more than one, 
or none at all. They are identified 
rather by their orbits than by their 
appearances. Some thus have peri- 
odic times, while others are vaga- 
bonds, which make one voyage into 
our system and then sail away, without 
any promise of returning. Some are 
very orderly in their movements, while 
others allow themselves to be pulled 
about in a style anything but inde- 
pendent. Some remain for months in 
the telescopic field, while others hurry 
away, as though they were behind 
time. In fact, there is no view we 
can have of these splendid couriers 
which is not of entrancing interest. 




XIV 

I E have delayed our reference 
to the comet Biela, that it 
might suggest to us an- 
other wonder in this inter- 
esting field. The comet Biela divided 
in two in sight of our earth, in the 
year 1846. Its time of revolution 
was about six and a half years, and 
after the division the two parts con- 
tinued their journey in the old orbit 
and again appeared to us in 1852, 
about one and a half million miles 
apart; but when in 1859 they might 
again have been expected, they failed 
to appear and have never since been 
seen. The question is natural as to 
what has become of them. It has 
been quite clearly demonstrated that 
the old orbit of Biela is now the orbit 
of a sparsely sprinkled and very rare 
substance, which furnishes a diversified 
and pleasing entertainment in the 
ample sky. Almost any clear night, 
and especially in November, the be- 
holder will be rewarded in watching for 
what are called shooting stars. These 



consist of a " little cloud of dust and 
intermingled gas." They generally fill 
an orbit through its whole extent, and 
thus revolve like a great band com- 
posed of millions of millions of small 
particles about the sun. I have seen 
it stated that more than four hundred 
such orbits have been definitely located. 
The earth passes through these orbits, 
or attracts some of their vapor to itself 
frequently. The numbers of meteoric 
particles which enter our atmosphere 
daily are estimated at more than ten 
millions. They may have been float- 
ing in undisturbed security for ages, 
but now, when for some teason they 
enter earth's atmosphere, they are set 
on fire by the friction, and consumed. 
It is but the work of a moment. They 
enter the atmosphere at about seventy- 
five miles from the earth, and disap- 
pear when about fifty miles away, and 
during this brief interval, flash, and 
are gone. 

One of the most interesting of such 
rings of cometary matter is that 
through which our earth passes every 
August and November. The circum- 
ference of this orbit is about four 
thousand four hundred millions of 



miles, and what is very curious is, that 
in every thirty-third year the display 
becomes exceedingly gorgeous. It 
would be inferred that in one part of 
this orbit the small flecks are greatly 
more numerous than elsewhere, and 
when the earth enters this, as happens 
every thirty-three years, the display is 
fine beyond all expression. The length 
of this denser portion of the orbit is 
many millions of miles, and so con- 
tinues the beautiful exhibition six 
hours or more. We may hope for this 
phenomenon in 1899. If we remem- 
ber that so far from witnessing the 
burning of vast worlds, we are simply 
looking at the consumption of small 
particles of the trains that have not 
been able to keep up with comets in 
their rapid flights, and thus are sprinkled 
along the orbit through which they had 
come, we might fairly exult in the 
splendid spectacle. It is unfortunate 
for many of us that the display is finer 
toward morning, inasmuch as in the 
evening the meteors are following the 
earth, while in the later night, we are 
meeting them. It thus becomes prob- 
able that the comets are leaving frag- 
ments of their trains through ail parts 



of space, or as in the instance of Biela's 
comet contribute nucleus and all to 
this brilliant destiny. 

There is another class of bodies 
which fall out of the sky with great 
velocity, noise, and brilliancy. These 
are termed "aerolites," "bolides," 
"meteorites," or "meteoric stones." 
About two hundred and fifty have been 
picked up during this century, though 
only a few of these were seen to fall. 
The greater number are of stony 
structure, while a few are masses of 
iron, and others consist of both. 
There has been much speculation in 
reference to their origin. Some have 
thought they had been long ago 
ejected from the craters of the moon, 
and incidentally falling within the at- 
traction of the earth, are brought to its 
surface. They are of irregular shape, 
which would indicate some such ori- 
gin. The sun is supposed to be sur- 
rounded by myriads of them, and to 
use them for feeding his flames. 
Homer probably speaks of an aerolite, 
as he refers to Minerva's flight in the 
guise of a shooting star from Olympus, 
to break the truce between the Tro- 
jans and the Greeks. 




XV 

j E had thought our sun was a 
very giant among the glori- 
ous galaxies of the sky; 
but what is our surprise to 
learn that he is far surpassed by some 
whose names and faces are quite fa- 
miliar to us. If our great central orb 
were removed to the apparent Ulti- 
ma Thule, where some of the former 
lord it over their kingdoms, his last 
ray of light would fade before com- 
pleting its journey to earth. The 
brightness of Sirius is equal to sixty- 
three of our suns ; the pole-star is as 
brilliant as eighty-six suns; but what 
of that? is not Capella equal to four 
hundred and thirty ? is not Arcturus as 
bright as five hundred and sixteen? 
But what of that ? is not modest Alcyone 
in the far-off Pleiades equal to twelve 
thousand of our sun ? Whether Maed- 
ler was correct or not, in supposing 
that this famous star was the centre of 
all the suns, as in their majesty they 
bore about him their retinue of worlds 
with attending satellites, we may cer- 



tainly agree that a twelve thousand fold 
sun could rise majestically to the needs 
of the sublime occasion. Certain it is 
that our luminary is passing, with his 
numerous dependents, through a wide 
orbit, and at last accounts was hopeful 
of accomplishing the revolution in 
twenty millions of our years. 

Think of our following this fiery 
leader through spaces which, though 
apparently familiar, are ever new. We 
are this moment wheeling along a hun- 
dred millions of miles from where 
we were at the same hour yesterday, 
in a part of space we never visited 
before, nor shall we ever journey 
through it again. It is enough to 
make one homesick. Still on we go, 
but never able to overtake a single star 
in the firmament. We can never hope 
to float into the neighborhood of their 
massive proportions, and if we know 
of their density, size, and brightness, 
it is by the complex applications of 
scientific principles, from which even 
the stars cannot absolve themselves. 




XVI 

|HE motions of the heavenly 
bodies are something start- 
ling. The whole heavens 
are in rapid transit. It 
may be that stars in any mentioned 
constellation do not move with the same 
velocity, and yet they are so far from 
us that the centuries do not serve to 
show any marked change in the figure 
of the Hyades, or Orion or Cassiopea. 
Nor will we forget that there is great 
complexity of motion, since one system 
is carried about another, and both 
these are borne about a third, and 
these, without changing their motions 
as before noted, are still whirling with- 
out a jar around a more distant centre, 
until at the last the sky is full of this 
complicated network; and yet some- 
how there are no detentions, no ir- 
regularities, no collisions. It is the 
complete harmony of the spheres, 
which was in God's great thought 
before He had as yet made a world, or 
fashioned a moon. 

Our moon makes but small preten- 



sion to speed, but she completes her 
thirty-seven and a half miles a minute 
year by year. And then consider that 
it must keep up with the earth as it 
swings along at the almost incredible 
rate of nineteen miles a second. Not 
to forget that these must not be left 
behind as our sun with his giant ser- 
vants is moving at the rate of four 
miles a second. We are astonished 
that nothing is disarranged or displaced 
on our planet during its fearfully rapid 
transit. Why does not this motion 
create an atmospheric current whose 
tornado-force would sweep every ob- 
ject from its surface ? Simply because 
the earth carries its own atmosphere, 
which is as unruffled as the atmosphere 
of a parlor-car when the train rushes 
at the speed of fifty miles an hour. 
What in the realm of fiction is more 
wonderful than the velocity of Arcturus ? 
It moves fifty-seven miles a second, 
that is three times as rapidly as the 
earth. And yet so far away is this 
five hundred and sixteen fold sun, that 
in a century it has changed its appar- 
ent place on the sky but three short 
inches ! Who can comprehend the 
meaning of this statement, whose imag- 



ination can fathom the abysmal depth 
where this fearful flight is occurring? 
All astronomers make special mention 
of a star in the " Hunting Dogs," known 
as No. 1830 in Groombridge's cata- 
logue of circumpolar stars. Its fear- 
ful velocity exceeds two hundred miles 
a second, which Bishop Warren af- 
firms "is beyond what all the attrac- 
tion of the matter of the universe could 
give it." But why need we wonder, 
for these are but parts of His ways; 
why marvel at this when many of 
the comets in their sweep about the 
sun rush at the inconceivable velocity 
of more than three hundred miles a 
second ! We are awe -stricken and 
mute as these monstrous masses come 
bearing down toward us, then, like the 
whisk of an angel wing, they are gone, 
gone at the bidding and impelled by 
the power of Him whose they are and 
whom they serve. 

As all these bodies are dashing 
about, around, and away, we can but 
resume our strange questionings con- 
cerning the terrible distances to which 
Heaven's bright messages are borne. 
Then with the fleshless spirit described 
by Richter, we cry out, " End of the 



universe, is there none?" We must 
long wait the answer. Men, in 
ancient times, with the unaided eye 
looked by night into heaven's rounded 
dome, and saw regiments of quiet stars 
twinkling from serene depths. Galileo 
then pointed his simple telescope into 
the same spaces, and there beyond the 
familiar fields he was entranced with 
the wonders of a new revelation. 
Then Lord Rosse, hopeful of yet 
richer discoveries, mounted a more 
powerful instrument for its still wider 
conquest, and sure enough, like bea- 
cons of brightness on crests of dark- 
ness, there were found myriads of 
sparkling worlds, far back in depths 
profound. Then we await tidings 
from the latest achievement in the re- 
nowned Lick telescope ; and since the 
smaller magnitudes, because of greater 
distances, are vastly more numerous, 
we are bewildered to know that it 
pierces the hiding-places of double the 
number seen through the fine Wash- 
ington refractor. And while we ask if 
there is no end to this universe, we 
are still unanswered. 

Shall men ever know more than now 
about the boundaries of the sky ? Why 



not? Who has fixed limits to genius, 
or waved mind back from the ampler 
spaces into which the receding horizon 
is beckoning it ? It is but thirty-three 
years since the spectroscope sent its 
first challenge into the distant sky; 
but it has rendered us familiar with 
many properties, as if those orbs were 
our nearest neighbors. Shall not other 
mental possibilities evoke still stranger 
truths from retreating worlds? The 
discoverer's triumph is not to be mo- 
nopolized by Galileo, or Herschel, or 
Kirchhoff. They gave the world its al- 
phabet of first principles, which dis- 
tinguished scholars are busy combining 
into strong chapters of sparkling truth. 
Newton's sea-shell soliloquy is the na- 
tive inspiration that shall certainly 
extend the astronomer's vision out, 
through, beyond, to where other myr- 
iads of burning suns glitter on the 
farthest conceivable horizon. 




XVII 

HO does not feel depressed 
as he looks from this un- 
bounded survey to his own 
little self ? 



Fond man ! The vision of a moment made ! 
Dream of a dream, and shadow of a shade ! 

" When I consider the heavens, the 
work of Thy fingers, the m oon and star 
which Thou hast ordained, what is man 
that Thou art mindful of him, and the 
son of man that Thou visitest him?" 
But no, the giant stars are but toys for 
mind's delight, but lamps to light its 
way through the sky. 

Space is but the expanse for mind's 
yachting excursions, while distant 
worlds are but convenient islands, 
where it anchors for temporary rest 
and recreation. Thought is the glory 
of mind. In a moment it spans the 
distance which only ages of light-travel 
could transcend. It holds aloft mon- 
ster balances, into which it tumbles 
giant worlds to determine their weight. 
It predicts the awful periods for widest 



revolutions. In its mighty and varied 
conquests it renders commonplace, 
mysteries which had once been reck- 
oned first inconceivable, and then 
preposterous. Thought groups in a 
comprehensive system all the varied 
facts of the firmament, and thus pre- 
sumes to interpret God's large hand- 
writing on the crystal walls of the 
universe. 

Mind with its consciousness, judg- 
ment, memory ; with its responsibility, 
conscience, immortality, easily and im- 
measurably transcends the aggregate 
greatness of all worlds. 

As Mrs. Hemans so sweetly sung : 

The sun is but a spark of fire, 
A transient meteor in the sky, 

The soul, immortal as its sire, 
Can never die. 

Or we exult in the utterance of 
Philip Doddridge : 

Ye stars are but the shining dust 

Of my divine abode; 
The pavement of those heavenly courts 

Where I shall reign with God. 

How truly the soul is winged for its 
immortal flight is beautifully expressed 



in some lines from Moore's " Lalla 

Rookh " : 

Go wing thy flight from star to star, 
From world to luminous world, as far 

As the universe spreads its flaming wall; 
Take all the pleasures of all the spheres, 
And multiply each through endless years, 

One minute of heaven is worth them all. 



\f , 



si 



A 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



021 094 076 5 1 



